Teenage Newcastle prodigy Jesse Southwell will spare a thought for injured sister Hannah before she runs out in Sunday’s NRLW grand final against Parramatta.
Initially preparing to live out their dream of playing alongside each other this season, that lasted just 33 minutes before Hannah ruptured her ACL in round one.
“It’s definitely sad … I’ve looked up to her my entire life,” the 17-year-old Jesse told AAP.
“I’ve always wanted to be just like her.
“To do this without her and even to play for my hometown without her is sad.
“But she’s always there and she’s always letting people know how to run hard and tackle hard. So I’m just happy that she’s there at all.”
Sunday’s decider looms as the most unlikely in the women’s game given earlier in the year in the previous competition Newcastle and Parramatta were the two teams not to make the finals.
Newcastle were winless throughout that maiden season earlier this year.
They recruited hard, brought Millie Boyle and Tamika Upton down from Brisbane and Hannah Southwell up from the Sydney Roosters.
Jesse Southwell meanwhile has developed into a star in her own right.
Compared early on to Andrew Johns, the halfback arrived for pre-season Knights training with a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal to her name from Rugby Sevens.
She has added an NRLW rookie of the year gong to her list of 2022 achievements, but admits she is still getting used to the spotlight.
“It’s very different to anything I’ve ever experienced before,” she said.
“It also doesn’t shed a light on how well our team goes. We have the best forwards in the game, the best outside backs in the game.
“So to give individual credit doesn’t really do any good for our entire team.”
Parramatta’s tale of reaching the title decider is even more remarkable.
With one round to go in the regular season they sat stone-last, winless after four games and set to take the wooden spoon.
They beat Brisbane in the final round, had results go in their favour and then shocked the Sydney Roosters in the semi-finals to reach the grand final.
“It’s just trying to maintain that energy come Sunday. We took a lot of confidence from the last two games,” Parramatta prop Kennedy Cherrington said.
“We found a new bunch, a new spine and we worked really hard to come together off the field.
“Slowly, we’ve been chipping away.
“Those four losses were tough to take, but we were always building.
“When the Broncos game came we took it by two hands because we felt the losses from earlier in the season.”
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